Spiritual Schizophrenia

(Proverbs 25:21 KJV)  If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:

When I look at this verse I see one of the reasons why I tend to think of America as a Christian nation.  This is a principle that is foreign to most of the world and even if they pay lip service to it they never carry through in action.  This is one of the foundations of the Just War Theory.  It put limits on how we treat even enemies.  I think back to the end of the Civil War and the way America treated Japan and Germany after World War II.  Lincoln called for a binding of wounds and forgiveness.  The Marshall Plan rebuilt the countries we had sacrificed thousands of lives to defeat.  You can call it schizophrenic.  You can call it bi-polar.  You can call it insane.  You must call it Christian.

So?  There may be times when physical force is necessary.  There is also a point where it is replaced by forgiveness and restoration.  God draws the line before we are willing to.  Live in obedience.